Platinum Premier Qualification

OK, we know that the qualification requirements for Platinum Premier remain a black box. Everyone seems to assume that you need at least 125 nights. PINGREEMAN asked MR directly last year, then posted that: "[On]ly the top three percent receive the Platinum Premier status for one year. [The] corporate offices [explained] that the qualification process is based upon a comparison of Platinum member accounts. ... [T]he account is looked at as a whole; this will include amount of nights at Marriott Hotels and the dollar amounts spent at the properties."

Let's see if we can't add a little transparency to the equation.

39 total votes

Last year I had fewer than 125 nights, and I qualified as PP. (If you have a theory as to why, please comment below.)

5

Last year I had 125-149 nights, and I qualified as PP.

5

Last year I had 125-149 nights, and I DID NOT QUALIFY as PP.

8

Last year I had 150-174 nights, and I qualified as PP.

2

Last year I had 150-174 nights, and I DID NOT QUALIFY as PP.

0

Last year I had 175 (or more) nights, and I qualified as PP.

7

Last year I had 175 (or more) nights, and I DID NOT QUALIFY as PP. (If you have a theory as to why, please comment below.)

PINGREEMAN - all I can say - other than OUCH!!!! - is that - at least from my perspective - you deserve to be on a higher tier with, and receive more perks and benefits from, the Marriott group than me. You earned it!!!

Yet another spin on the Elite status that I have not heard of before ... just checked with a few of my UK ex-colleagues and drew a blank there too. Looks like these Elite subsets are not well known in the UK or are just not available to us. I cannot claim your levels of stays pingreeman ... my best was 192 one year, but normally I have been around the 100 nights. That is an awesome stay record and definitely worth the call from a VP! I am surprised that Bill hasn't invited you to speak to his Exec team on what keeps a customer so loyal!!

However, I have encouraged my consulting teams to stay at Marriotts when we have been on assignment and that did net me a bit of local hospitality in recognition of the custom placed ... e.g. Masters Golf at Forest of Arden Marriott and Norwich City football games in the Directors box ... very pleasant and much appreciated.

For initial acceptance into PP, there is the theory that Marriott looks at your previous three years of stays. Believe this theory holds true as I have had over 200 nights in the past 3 years but only made it to PP in the 3rd year. I have heard the same from others.

So are you saying that if you attain the Platinum Premier status in a given year or 3-year period, that your status "should" stay like that in ensuing years? In 2009, I had about 225 nights with Marriott (others with Hilton). In 2010, maybe 35 nights and now this year I will have about 85. Yet, when I sign onto Marriott, my status is Platinum.

I woke up this morning in the Courtyard in Danbury, CT, one of the best Courtyards in the quiver (BTW). I logged into my Marriott account to check the dates of another reservation and noticed that I had just stayed my 2400th stay (lifetime total with no rollover nights). This got me thinking about an issue that Pingreeman and I have argued for in the past. The un-obtanium level. While traveling 50, 75, 125 nights a year is no small achievment, there is a small percentage of us who stay 250-325+ nights a year and would like to see something more. I think about this everytime I call the PP line and get put on hold.

Listening...thanks for sharing! And - holy cow on 2400! I think I'll rename my cube in your honor, but not sure how 'bikedestroy cube' will go over - maybe adding a French twist will take it over the top. Ooohh how I love Google Translate: vélo dedétruire

I'm surprised you even have time or energy to take vacation. Can I ask what you do, that you travel so much? Does it have to do with touring or something? If you want that private, I understand and respect your privacy.

It is in the same city. The first 25 days were at TPS. After Jul 29, we moved to RI. We were in the first 2 BR suite until last Oct. Then they moved us to another in when they were remodeling that end of the buildings. We have other stays at the same time since we can't keep moving our things around, so it is possible to have 2 rooms at once. Also, there's no tax on the room and we're listed as transients after 2 or 3 months.

He could be sent home at any time so they don't want to commit to an apt., but the other time he was here was for 5 years, with the contract company putting him in an apartment for about a year of that.

I have been a PP for 2 years now with 2250 paid stays and around 150 nights a year. I do have over 2.2 million points so I wonder if that means anything towards your PP. I don't see any special treatment like I used to. A lot of my stays are in Europe and getting an upgrade to anything is impossible. There is no emphasis on the status anymore which usually means Marriott is making money again. They are the best when the economy tanks but when things get better for them, they get worse for us.

Ask an Associate the next time you check in if they know that (A) you're a PP, and (B) what that means. You'll be surprised as I was with some of the answers you get. No quite, "want fries with that?" but close.

I didnt get the fries, was I supposed to? I had one guy in a Courtyard ask what it meant when you had an X (PP status) next to your status. He said he never saw that and had to look it up. I told him it was for living in Marriotts and X marks the spot for my grave.

While I've only been Platinum for a few years running, I do enjoy Marriott property more as a global statement, as I've certainly had a few days that were not so memorable, and since the comments are monitored my issue is almost always related to the welcome and efficiency at check in. It's very very seldom that there is a room condition that grates. It's the "hello" and recognition of your repeated effort to stay with the same brand, or failing that; the lack of it when there are many other choices.

I thought that a thousand nights lifetime was an achievement; but I'm a mere mortal in looking at some people who are more at home on the road, than AT home.

That said, since Platinum Premier IS a formal program, I agree and recommend that the company steps up and defines it. People who travel this much are competitive by nature, and are all about goal setting. Make the rewards of the program interesting enough and you'll grow your business from an already obviously loyal group of professionals, not party goers who trash a room. Intrinsic to my suggestion is communicating to your properties what is conveyed as a Platinum Premier member. Most appear to find out by accident, and some have to explain it to the property when they check in? Borrowing a line from ESPN, "c'mon man!" People like loyalty recognized at all membership levels.

Competitiveness and goal setting don't always have anything to do with it. Look at the military. They aren't setting their own destinations. Neither is my husband when he agrees to work on site.

Also, in his case, it's more of a self-preservation to continue working on site because his supervisors would have him working on several projects at once and having him work himself to death. That wasn't why he agreed to work on site 2 1/2 years ago and it's not why he worked on site at the same company for 5 years a few years before that, but it has become that now.

You are right about the understanding of the different levels, however. We don't ever explain it to anyone, and I'm not sure they understand, because it's seems to rarely be mentioned, if ever. As far as that goes, CS doesn't seem to understand most of the time. They certainly don't act like it very often.